I just learned that The Truth album was intended for release back in 1998. How do you think that album's release would have impacted Prince's career? I personally love it, but would an "acoustic" album be a good idea at that time? I believe he went from Emancipation then made The Truth, so maybe after making such a big 3 disc album like that, maybe the idea was to release something scaled back and short? Not a whole lot of information on the making of The Truth. I would love 2 know more, my personal wish ( maybe far fetched) is that in The Vault is/was a session of Prince performing all of the songs (minus Man In A Uniform lol) from The Truth like when he played that acoustic set on MTV during the Musicology Period!

hard to know what kind of attention it would have gotten.

i think as his first stripped back album, that would have been seen as brave, and a refreshing change from so much more 'regular' prince music.

he needed something like that, a surprise, something that you didnt think prince would do - just a shame that most people dont know it exists.

same for the undertaker really.

prince needed some projects out there that could show what he did with a very minimal set up.

cfluid said:

I just learned that The Truth album was intended for release back in 1998. How do you think that album's release would have impacted Prince's career? I personally love it, but would an "acoustic" album be a good idea at that time? I believe he went from Emancipation then made The Truth, so maybe after making such a big 3 disc album like that, maybe the idea was to release something scaled back and short? Not a whole lot of information on the making of The Truth. I would love 2 know more, my personal wish ( maybe far fetched) is that in The Vault is/was a session of Prince performing all of the songs (minus Man In A Uniform lol) from The Truth like when he played that acoustic set on MTV during the Musicology Period!

It was released in 1998. So I'm not sure what you're asking.

If you mean a release separate from CB, I doubt it would have made any difference: critics certainly didn't forget to review The Truth when they reviewed CB at the time, and there were even some early reviews in 1997, cos Prince sent a promo to some mags (including Uptown, who trashed it in their review).

I personally love going from more "produced" records to more stripped back ones. One of my favorite things is listening to Chaos & Disorder, and immediately listening to One Nite Alone... two very different ends of the same spectrum, showing two sides to the same person. So to go from Emancipation - which is really long and produced - to somthing so laid back, stripped back and personal. I love that. But what the media, critics and fans back then would have thought and felt would probably be very different. I wasn't even born in 1998, but I love The Truth. It's a shame it hasn't got a more widespread release. I will own it someday!

databank said:

cfluid said:

I just learned that The Truth album was intended for release back in 1998. How do you think that album's release would have impacted Prince's career? I personally love it, but would an "acoustic" album be a good idea at that time? I believe he went from Emancipation then made The Truth, so maybe after making such a big 3 disc album like that, maybe the idea was to release something scaled back and short? Not a whole lot of information on the making of The Truth. I would love 2 know more, my personal wish ( maybe far fetched) is that in The Vault is/was a session of Prince performing all of the songs (minus Man In A Uniform lol) from The Truth like when he played that acoustic set on MTV during the Musicology Period!

It was released in 1998. So I'm not sure what you're asking.

If you mean a release separate from CB, I doubt it would have made any difference: critics certainly didn't forget to review The Truth when they reviewed CB at the time, and there were even some early reviews in 1997, cos Prince sent a promo to some mags (including Uptown, who trashed it in their review).

I mean that it was going 2 be released as a stand alone album by EMI record label.

Nobody would've cared, honestly.

Prince was in the descendency of his stardom in the mid-late 90s. Everyone just thought he was weird.

He had kissed the mainstream goodbye (at least for a while) and was off on a far more interesting journey.

I loved that he headed for the ditch and explored it for a while. It was what made me truly fascinated by him. That he could be that famous and could actively sabotage his mainstream credibility, because other things were more important... that was pretty damn cool to me.

Some folks round here only seem to understand things in terms of hits and flops, like chart numbers are all that matter.... they're interesting, in their own way, I guess, but there's so much more to sales and charts when it comes to what makes an artist truly interesting and truly successful.

So yeah, The Truth would have made little impact, and that would've been fine.

cfluid said:

databank said:

It was released in 1998. So I'm not sure what you're asking.

If you mean a release separate from CB, I doubt it would have made any difference: critics certainly didn't forget to review The Truth when they reviewed CB at the time, and there were even some early reviews in 1997, cos Prince sent a promo to some mags (including Uptown, who trashed it in their review).

I mean that it was going 2 be released as a stand alone album by EMI record label.

In that sense, it very much depends of how much energy and money both Prince and EMI would have involved in promoting it, and that we'll never know.

But I doubt it would have had any longlasting "impact" on P's career anyway.

At that point in Prince's career, he was at a very low ebb in critics's eyes. I think they would have been inclined to dismiss The Truth, or at the most be lukewarm towards it. Now if it had stayed hidden in the vault and released today, I think critics would have a more positive reaction.

Critics would like to believe they're objective and would rate an album the same regardless of when they hear it, but that's clearly not true. Context matters. Plus, critics are human beings and susceptible to "group think" and other influences. In '98, it was fashionable to say Prince was long past his peak. In 2021, it's fashionable to say he was a genuis with a lot of hidden treasures.

jfenster said:

Was the acoustic "hearts" album shelved to release ttruth?

Which album is this?

jfenster said:

Was the acoustic "hearts" album shelved to release ttruth?

Teh tracklist of this was shared to some decades ago and it wasn't a acoustic album.

cfluid said:

I just learned that The Truth album was intended for release back in 1998. How do you think that album's release would have impacted Prince's career? I personally love it, but would an "acoustic" album be a good idea at that time? I believe he went from Emancipation then made The Truth, so maybe after making such a big 3 disc album like that, maybe the idea was to release something scaled back and short? Not a whole lot of information on the making of The Truth. I would love 2 know more, my personal wish ( maybe far fetched) is that in The Vault is/was a session of Prince performing all of the songs (minus Man In A Uniform lol) from The Truth like when he played that acoustic set on MTV during the Musicology Period!

I heard it was pressed and ready to go in 1997 not 1998.

JorisE73 said:

cfluid said:

I just learned that The Truth album was intended for release back in 1998. How do you think that album's release would have impacted Prince's career? I personally love it, but would an "acoustic" album be a good idea at that time? I believe he went from Emancipation then made The Truth, so maybe after making such a big 3 disc album like that, maybe the idea was to release something scaled back and short? Not a whole lot of information on the making of The Truth. I would love 2 know more, my personal wish ( maybe far fetched) is that in The Vault is/was a session of Prince performing all of the songs (minus Man In A Uniform lol) from The Truth like when he played that acoustic set on MTV during the Musicology Period!

I heard it was pressed and ready to go in 1997 not 1998.

If it was supposed to be thru EMI (I'm not actually aware of this, or I forgot it), it would indeed have been planned in early 1997 for a late 1997 release. That'd be before the label collapsed and abandonned promoting its current projects (including Emancipation).

.

I do not believe any copy was ever pressed, however. The 1997 promos sent to the press were cassette only, and it's quite likely a few copies of a CD would have survived destruction (à la TBA, Undertaker or M&H).

JorisE73 said:

jfenster said:

Was the acoustic "hearts" album shelved to release ttruth?

Teh tracklist of this was shared to some decades ago and it wasn't a acoustic album.

It was? Do you by chance have it? Googling "Heart tracklist" brings up nothing, and PrinceVault has nothing. Would be very interesting!

billymeade said:

JorisE73 said:

Teh tracklist of this was shared to some decades ago and it wasn't a acoustic album.

It was? Do you by chance have it? Googling "Heart tracklist" brings up nothing, and PrinceVault has nothing. Would be very interesting!

Unfortunately I don't. I didn't believe it when it was posted back then but some years later it was confirmed it was real and I forgot about it.
Last year I think this popped up again with people were asking if this could be reposted because it was apperently also posted publicly somewhere that I missed. Been also searching ever since for it.

cfluid said:

I just learned that The Truth album was intended for release back in 1998. How do you think that album's release would have impacted Prince's career? I personally love it, but would an "acoustic" album be a good idea at that time? I believe he went from Emancipation then made The Truth, so maybe after making such a big 3 disc album like that, maybe the idea was to release something scaled back and short? Not a whole lot of information on the making of The Truth. I would love 2 know more, my personal wish ( maybe far fetched) is that in The Vault is/was a session of Prince performing all of the songs (minus Man In A Uniform lol) from The Truth like when he played that acoustic set on MTV during the Musicology Period!

A standard major label release of the Truth wouldn't have made much difference. Everything in Princeworld was scattershot then and I think it would have just been another footnote from that time period.

If he had done a proper "unplugged" album around 1992, with some hits and maybe some new tracks mixed in, it could have been a blockbuster and possibly the defining recording of that niche.

I think it could have stood a chance as a novelty release of sorts but, like someone else said, it was a little too late to cash in on the MTV UNplugged trend, even though that show was still running. However, had he actually gone on the show, I could picture a world where he opened some eyes and made some waves here and there, similar to what he pulled off with the Musicology acoustic sets that everyone loved with the MTV brand providing it. On the other hand, fuck MTV so I dunno. But I could picture it working.

It's a good album that I've gone back and forth on for whatever reason.

I was blown away by the first 2 tracks on my initial listen and fastened my seatbelt but didn't much care for the rest of it until giving it another chance years later. I tend to like the lesser known and specific genre type exercises he'd do like this from time to time but bury - in the vein of Exodus, ONA Piano and The Undertaker where he was showing off his skills in different genres that lacked any sort of proper mainstream exposure from him.

"Come Back" still makes me cry. Reminds me of the night my dad died during a torrential blizzard and my wife had it on.

Rimshottbob said:

Nobody would've cared, honestly.

Prince was in the descendency of his stardom in the mid-late 90s. Everyone just thought he was weird.

He had kissed the mainstream goodbye (at least for a while) and was off on a far more interesting journey.

I loved that he headed for the ditch and explored it for a while. It was what made me truly fascinated by him. That he could be that famous and could actively sabotage his mainstream credibility, because other things were more important... that was pretty damn cool to me.

Some folks round here only seem to understand things in terms of hits and flops, like chart numbers are all that matter.... they're interesting, in their own way, I guess, but there's so much more to sales and charts when it comes to what makes an artist truly interesting and truly successful.

So yeah, The Truth would have made little impact, and that would've been fine.

It seems everyone in their life comes across a crisis. People do not realise the 90's for Prince were highs and devastating lows. Losing a child that you got to know over heartbreaking days would be such a low for a sensitive man who wanted that child so much. He eventually had to give permission for an action that would inevitably cause his child's death. His marriage subsequently broke down. WB were not allowing him his intellectual property, so he knowingly presented sub-standard music to retaliate. He was in pain from accidents while on stage .... need I go on. More stress than a young man who had been abused and withdrawn into his own world of hard work to survive, should have to make his way through. Nothing was easy for Prince. Just appreciate what he did give us and everyone SHUT UP about your likes and dislikes, which are only your opinions anyway.

margi said:

It seems everyone in their life comes across a crisis. People do not realise the 90's for Prince were highs and devastating lows. Losing a child that you got to know over heartbreaking days would be such a low for a sensitive man who wanted that child so much. He eventually had to give permission for an action that would inevitably cause his child's death. His marriage subsequently broke down. WB were not allowing him his intellectual property, so he knowingly presented sub-standard music to retaliate. He was in pain from accidents while on stage .... need I go on. More stress than a young man who had been abused and withdrawn into his own world of hard work to survive, should have to make his way through. Nothing was easy for Prince. Just appreciate what he did give us and everyone SHUT UP about your likes and dislikes, which are only your opinions anyway.

Thank you!

muleFunk said:

margi said:

It seems everyone in their life comes across a crisis. People do not realise the 90's for Prince were highs and devastating lows. Losing a child that you got to know over heartbreaking days would be such a low for a sensitive man who wanted that child so much. He eventually had to give permission for an action that would inevitably cause his child's death. His marriage subsequently broke down. WB were not allowing him his intellectual property, so he knowingly presented sub-standard music to retaliate. He was in pain from accidents while on stage .... need I go on. More stress than a young man who had been abused and withdrawn into his own world of hard work to survive, should have to make his way through. Nothing was easy for Prince. Just appreciate what he did give us and everyone SHUT UP about your likes and dislikes, which are only your opinions anyway.

Thank you!

I always feel so bad when he says "shout out 2 the ones that can raise a child like me" from the song "Way Back Home". heart crushing